Lead Poisons Crumbling Third World Cities

By Frederick Noronha, ENS, 18 January 1999

BOMBAY, India, January 18, 1999 (ENS)—Global experts from around
the world are to congregate in the southern Indian city of Bangalore
for three days in early February, to study one of the world’s
most widespread environmental pollutants affecting two-thirds of the
world’s children in urban environments—lead. An estimated
15 to 18 million children in developing countries are affected by high
levels of lead in their blood, according to figures issued by the
World Health Organisation.

Beginning February 8, participants in the International Conference on
Lead Poisoning Preventment and Treatment will attempt to map the
worldwide dimensions of the lead problem. They will cover screening
and measurement, prevention, health effects and treatment.

The gathering is billed as the largest-ever meeting of scientists,
public health and environmental professionals on lead poisoning. One
outcome will be a newly established central clearinghouse for
collection and dissemination of information about lead.

The conference is being organised by the World Bank, in cooperation
with three American associations. Co-sponsors are two federal
agencies, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, and a nongovernmental organisation,
the George Foundation.

The George Foundation, a non-profit organisation was founded in 1995,
in Bangalore, India, and is funded by Dr. Abraham George, president
and CEO of Multinational Computer Models Inc., an international
financial consulting firm based in New Jersey, USA. The George
Foundation works for the welfare of children in India, especially poor
children who suffer from adverse environmental conditions beyond their
control, such as lead poisoning.

Lead occurs naturally in the earth’s crust. But when ingested,
inhaled or absorbed through skin, it is highly toxic to humans. Lead
is not biodegradable. It persists in the soil, in the air, in drinking
water and in homes and can poison generations of children and adults
unless properly removed.

Significant exposures also come from industrial emissions, like lead
smelters and battery recycling plants which contaminate environments
and people in the surrounding areas. The highest level of
environmental contamination is found to be associated with
uncontrolled recycling operations and the most highly exposed adults
are those who work with lead.

No level of lead in blood can be considered safe or normal. At high
levels, lead poisoning causes coma, convulsions and death. Exposure to
extremely small amounts can have long-term measurable effects in
children while causing no distinctive symptoms.

Beginning at low levels of exposure, experts say lead causes anemia in
both children and adults by impairing the formation of oxygen-carrying
molecules. Other adverse effects in adults include kidney disease and
impaired fertility.

In adults, small but significant increases in blood pressure result
from extremely low exposure levels with no evidence of a threshold
below which lead does not affect blood pressure. Hypertension caused
by lead exposure contributes to thousands of deaths every year,
particularly among men between the ages of 35 and 50.

In addition to lead poisoning, India’s urban dwellers are being
crowded to an unprecedented degree. The United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) predicts that about half of India’s population
will be urban at the dawn of the new millennium, putting further
pressure on cities already crumbling due to lack of planning.

Klaus Toepfer, UNEP executive director who also directs the U.N.
Centre of Human Settlement (HABITAT), said that the problems of
cities, already breeding grounds for poverty, violence, pollution and
congestion, would be major environmental issues.